WASHINGTON -- A presidential commission is pushing for broad changes to veterans' care, in the wake of the scandal over conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

"These are bold, innovative recommendations that are doable and can be acted upon quickly," said Donna Shalala, a former secretary of health and human services and co-chair of the panel.

"The system should work for the patient, instead of the patient working for the system," she said.

The panel's plan is to boost benefits for family members helping care for the wounded, establish an easy-to-use Web site for medical records, overhaul the disability-rating system and urge more attention be paid to returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans suffering from brain injuries.

President George W. Bush created the bi-partisan panel in March, citing a "moral obligation" to provide the best possible care to men and women in uniform. Shalala and former Sen. and World War II veteran Bob Dole led its work.

"We owe a wounded solider the very best care and the very best benefits and the very easiest-to-understand system," Bush said.

The panel made these recommendations:

• Create comprehensive health recovery plans and develop a corps of highly trained coordinators to help service members transition back to military duty or civilian life every step of the way.
• Simplify the way disabilities are determined and make the compensation system less confusing.
• Improve the system for diagnosing and treating post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries, and work to make service members less vulnerable to these two signature ailments of the war on terror.
• Significantly strengthen support for families.
• Develop "My eBenefits," a one-stop Web site and information source for service members that combines Defense Department and Veterans Affairs databases.
• Keep Walter Reed staffed with first-rate professionals until it closes in 2011.

"All of the recommendations make perfect sense and represent a very good step forward in getting our troops and veterans the care they deserve," said Jon Soltz, founder of VoteVets.org, an organization of veterans critical of administration's war policy. "With more and more troops coming back from Iraq with severe physical and mental injuries, the time to fix this problem is now, not months or years from now."

Meanwhile, the Senate has passed a bill designed to end inconsistencies in disability pay for veterans. It also would boost severance pay and pony up $50 million for improved diagnosis of veterans with brain injury or post-traumatic stress.

The House is mulling over similar measures.

A series reported in The Washington Post earlier in the year uncovered squalid conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and daunting bureaucratic hurdles for wounded vets.

Military officials visiting the hospital, touted as the flagship medical facility for veterans, said they were shocked and dismayed by what they found, especially in Building 18.

Building 18 is where many soldiers discharged from the psychiatric ward are sent to recover, sometimes for months. The story described patient quarters there where parts of the walls are torn and weighted down with black mold. A staffer told reporters she brought cockroach poison to work. There was a mice infestation. And families described what they saw as a never-ending maze of bureaucratic entanglements as they sought care and support for their loved ones.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson said he welcomed the new report.

"The men and women who have served this nation in uniform, especially our wounded combat veterans, deserve the best care our country can provide," Nicholson said.